Advanced Media Production

My ideal plan of the installation will hopefully look like this once completed :

The plan was to have 2 x 2.1 ch speakers behind each lounge but crosswired so that the participants on the lounge hear the sound coming from the opposite lounge. The grey areas indicates where I will be placing either pressure pads or contact mics (though at this stage I think contact mics are a more feasible option) for interaction and input into PD.

The lounges themselves will be rigged up with both contact mics as well as a sound reactive CCFL tube as well as flexiwire LED lighting underneath to give it a nice aura and attract attention to the lounge setup. Each lounge will hopefully look like this once complete :

The grey areas in this diagram indicates places where I will like lighting to be put, however this is still pending a decision based on practicality of placement and health and safety requirements. The sound reactive CCFL will be mounted underneath the couch so it gives it a subtle pulsating glow to the whole installation. The flexiwire LED lighting will be drapped across the back of the lounge as well as the side of the arms to help outline the lounge in the installation area.

Problems that may be encountered

• Sourcing of components (lounges, lighting, speakers, contact mics etc)
• Practicality and safety of mounting lighting equipment on the couch
• Getting a space to build, install and test the installation

Here comes the hard and convoluted bit, PD. Rachel & I sat in front of a blank box in PD wondering what are we suppose to do next? Thankfully Mat gave us a simplistic run down of its features and functions which will hopefully help us understand how it all works for our projects (to a certain degree).

PD or Pure Data is a graphical programming language developed by Miller Puckette in the 1990s for the creation of interactive computer music and multimedia works. It basically is like a massive flowchart connecting components together so that they work somehow.

Screenshot of PD with a really simple flowchart :

Now onto my PD program thing. My project simply has to take inputs from quite a few contact mics, and when a signal is heard from a particular mic, play a sound file. Now breaking this down I’ve decided to create a simple PD program flowchart of how it works with just the one mic input.

Now for people who’ve used PD you would prolly laugh at my pathetic first attempt, but for all the rest who are looking confused as to what this all means I shall attempt to break it all down and explain what functions I used and why.

adc~ & dac~ – This is how PD gets inputs and outputs from the computer (adc = analogue to digital converter, dac = digital to analogue converter). Think of this as the begin and end nodes of a flowchart.

fiddle~ – This function estimates the pitch and amplitude of an incoming sound. The numbers after it indicate window size, number of pitch outlets, number of peaks to find and number of peaks to output. Since I didn’t know what all these numbers meant I’ve decided the leave it as the default settings.

[O] – This box (a circle inside a square for those who still don’t know what it looks like from that) is called a bang. Basically from what I gather it creates a visual indication of when a function that it’s connected to triggers. So it basically lights up black if the fiddle~ function receives a signal from the mic in this case.

1 – This number is associated with the readsf~ function below. It basically tells readsf~ to start playing the sound file (if instead the number were 0, it will tell the readsf~ function to stop playing).

open <directory path of sound file> – This basically tells the readsf~ function below to open a sound file in a particular directory path on your computer.

readsf~ – This function just allows you to read the sound file passed on from open.

So basically this simple flowchart is getting the left and right channel inputs from the computer’s input device (inbuilt mic), senses whether or not there is a signal from that mic that hits a particular threshold level. When this level is hit, it will play a soundfile out of the left and right channels of the computer’s output device (speakers).

Problems I’ve encountered

• Learning how to use PD was a problem in itself.
• Functions not working properly because of wrong syntax but was worked out by use of online help files and trial and error.
• I only know how to make it work with only one input, I’m not sure how to make it all work for multiple inputs…yet.
• Getting hold of contact mics to play with.

I think that’s all for now since I can’t really think of any other problems that I’ve encountered…

I found these examples of really cool lighting concepts by different designers that seem to make a simple product look very cool. Mind you, these are only prototypes but it does give us insight on how they’ve used current or new lighting technologies put into good use.

The first example comes from a company called iHouse and their concept called the SmartFaucet :

The second example comes from Philips. It showcases their new OLED wall concept and how it interacts with people :

And finally this last example also comes from Philips and is also about showcasing their OLED concepts, however this time it’s using OLED displays as a lighting solution :

Having looked around at different installations either online (because they’re annoyingly not in Australia) or in person, I’ve seem to hone in on a few designs that I like. Inspiration comes from the most simplistic yet elegant forms I think, and the first example I’ll show below was taken from the Seoul Living Design Fair 2008.

VIP mini pavilions at the Seoul Living Design Fair 2008

It has a really nice, simple yet elegant, classical look to the lounge that with the help of a few accessories and lighting gives it a nice inviting look to a lounge setup which really looks very comfortable as well.

The next few images will be from Verner Panton’s exhibition at Hangaram Design Museum Seoul Arts Center. The work is called “Fantasy Landscape Room”, which the designer was not only interested in finding solutions to technical and aesthetic problems, but also in exploring the emotional effect of light. Along with designs for traditional lamps and lighting fixtures, he also developed light sculptures and lighted wall elements which functioned both as a source of light and as a decorative object.

Entrance to the “Fantasy Landscape Room” by Verner Panton

Interior of the “Fantasy Landscape Room” by Verner Panton

Panton created a cavelike environment of freely formulated spatial sequences. In the vast interior space the seats, sleeping places and tables grew out of the walls and up from the floor to form one big integrated fantasy landscape, where everything was covered with foam and Bayer’s Dralon fabrics. Changing illumination gave the room new colors, which Panton used to create an extra dimension, a movement through time and space conditioned by sensuality and corporeality. He achieved this effect by juxtaposing contrasting colors, letting red-yellow shades crash into blue-violet tones. Conversely, in several other designs, he created an illusion of a quiet, intimate closed room by using only shades of red or blue. Very interesting moody atmosphere is created here by the use of interesting objects and lighting by the designer.

The next image is from Gwangju Biennale, an installation where it had a floor video projection, interesting seats and you had to put sensors on your head. I think it’s some electroencephalographic visualization artwork, possibly a combination of the brain activity of two people or both in opposition. It could be something very similar to Mariko Mori’s Wave UFO installation which had 3 people in a pod, seeing visuals of their brain activity above them. The whole set up is quite interesting, because the participants had to wear medical grade electrodes attached to their temples. There are rumours floating around the Internet that the precogs in the movie Minority Report was based on this work and the concept was bought by Steven Spielbelg, but there hasn’t been anything in print to substantiate this rumour.

A Biological Video Interaction Installation?

As cool as this installation may sound, I’m actually more interested in the ambient lighting aspect on how it’s creating a mood for the installation setup. The night blue lighting creates a nice relaxing atmosphere which also puts an emphasis on just the lounge in the middle being a place to sit to immerse in this nice blue glow.

The next image is from a Design Party at the W Hotel, it includes a whole bunch of paper lantern lighting designed by Kouchi Okamato. Kouichi Okamoto is one of Japan’s hot young design stars and head of Kyouei Design, an innovative and fresh group of freethinking, talented designers from this fashion-forward country. Kouichi likes his designs to stand for a “minimum of necessity” – that is, he doesn’t overthink it!

Paper Lantern Lighting setup at the W Hotel

Again the focus in this image is from the mood lighting to create an atmosphere for the lounge setup. I like the way how the designer’s form also contribute to making a theme for the lounge as well as create ambiance through the use of lighting.

The next image is from South Korea’s Incheon International Airport where the designer has used bars of LED panels to create both mood lighting and a multiple monitor output for what ever they want to project on it.

A LED Panel display at Incheon International Airport, South Korea

I particularly like the way that it’s facing away from the Internet Café lounge area and towards the travellators. It can serve two purposes, as mood lighting to the people in the Internet lounge, and as a advertising and marketing tool for the people travelling along the travellators. It’s interesting in that they use a monitor-like lighting installation to do this as it’s different and hasn’t really been done as often before.

The final image is from the Anyang Public Art Project in Korea. This installation is interesting as it uses what looks like milk crates to create a lounge area for visitors to sit on. It’s this simplicity that intrigues me because it got me thinking about the lounge as an object made up of other objects rather than get the run of the mill sofa that everyone associates the lounge to be.

Anyang Public Art Project

I’ve been focussing on how the type of setup and lighting plays an important part in creating ambiance. But in these images I’ve also come to realise that what type of lounge you want to create also depends on the type of furnishings as well. So for example if you want to create a stylish lounge setting you would be using leather type materials (like in the first example – VIP mini pavilions at the Seoul Living Design Fair 2008), but if you wanted to make a relaxing, laid back, futuristic look you would use one of those Ovalia Egg Chairs as seen in Men in Black for example with blue LED mood lighting like in the third example (Gwangju Biennale).

I think it also affects how people react to and respond to the installation based on how it looks. If it looks stylish and comfy with lot of expensive looking leather, most people might be a bit reserved in smacking it about (since it’s an interactive installation), but if it was was a very laid back and comfy look (for example using a LoveSac as a lounge) then people would be more inclined to jump all over it and interact with the installation more easily. Overall though, these installations have been inspirational in giving me ideas and changed the way I’ve looked at approaching the lounge setup.

Decisions, decisions…

Having visited the Museum of Contemporary Arts (MCA) last week I’ve had a few ideas inspired from the great work done by Yayoi Kusama. The installations that she has created that has inspired me include :

‘Fireflies on the Water’ (2000)

‘I’m Here, But Nothing’ (2000)

‘Clouds’ (1999)

What do these images have to do with my lounge concept? Well I think these images are excellent examples of an artist creating some sort of atmosphere for the installation. Going into a mirrored room with a lot of colourful LED lights for example, has a nice soothing atmosphere when you first step inside and bask in what seems to be endless fields of lights that resembles fireflies. The installation invites the viewer to completely immerse themselves in the work and to share in the isolation and disorientation experienced by the artist.

The second image is an installation that uses UV lighting to create both mood and interest which is reflected by the luminescent dots as well as clothing you may have. This installation is a simply furnished room consisting of table and chairs, place settings and bottles, armchairs and rugs, however its walls are tattooed with hundreds of fluorescent polka dots glowing in the UV light. The result is an endless infinite space where the self and everything in the room is obliterated.

The third image is an installation that uses very big pillows that resemble clouds in the sky. At the MCA these were just scattered around the exhibition and invited you to walk through a silent room with bare walls. It had an interesting eerie calming atmosphere that sort of made you want to jump on one of these big clouds and fall asleep.

This exhibition was really inspiring as it showed that the artist has thought about the audience when she was creating these installations, the displays were not something that they could interact with, but think about and experience the artist’s view when she created it.

Another really cool sound installation I stumbled across was made by designer studios MAT and Elastika for Tokyo Designers Week and is named KT: The Listening Room.

KT: The Listening Room

What this installation tries to portray is what it would be like living inside headphones. The room beams audio at you from 15 speakers and two subs, all store in corrugated fibreboard and compressed polyester foam panels as you sit on a fabric hill. The acoustic mix is somewhere between a concert hall and a pair of headphones that’s large enough for you to sleep in. This installation was really intriguing in how it was setup to immerse the listener, which is a key point that I was looking at to get some inspiration and ideas for my project.

The final thing that caught my eye when finding things to inspire me for my own interactive sound installation was a game called Electroplankton for the Nintendo DS. This is an interesting demo of what this game was capable of doing, that is to engage with its audience and get them to interact with it to make something meaningful (in this case music of some sort) and fun out of it.

All of these examples have given me more ideas on how I will go about making my sound project work; by allowing me to experience and participate as a member of the audience, I’ve come to understand what I must do in order to engage my audience when I go about planning the sound installation.